


Leaving "For The Better"

by GasterFan5



Series: Steven Universe Fanfictions [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Fusion (Mentions), No Romance, Other (Possibly/Most Likely), Running Away
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-27
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2019-07-03 12:25:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 9,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15818835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GasterFan5/pseuds/GasterFan5
Summary: Garnet is upset about Pearl tricking her into fusing, and it takes a toll on Pearl. Pearl can't handle nobody on the team talking to her, and feels as if she's bothering the team. As if she's a nuisance. So she decides to leave, for the better of the Crystal Gems.





	1. Setting It Up

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Away From Everything](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/410976) by GalacticCat1. 



> Heeeey! Haven't written Steven Universe before! :P   
> I kinda got this idea from another fanfiction about Pearl running away, so I said that. uhhh. Please do comment if you want to! I may not respond, as I am busy with school, but I might! why would you want to though T-T okokok. enjoy i guess? NOTE: ". . ." means time passed while still on the same character, and "..." means the character changed!

_‘How long is Amethyst going to be childish?’_ Pearl thought, looking at her lazily sitting on the couch and eating a bag of chips. She sighed, looking at the mess, and realized how lonely it was now. Amethyst hated her, obviously, and Garnet hated her now that she had the…fusion incident… _‘I don’t even want to think about that right now,’_ she thought as she recalled the moment, sighing again. “Yo Pearl make somethin for lil Steven to eat on our next mission,” Amethyst said casually, glancing at the gem and human mix. “I suppose it’s better than making you something,” Pearl shot back, starting on some sort of sandwich for him. She was so focused that she didn’t notice Garnet walk in until Steven jumped up excitedly, happy that she was back.

“Gaaaarnet!” Steven said as he ran towards her happily. He smiled, looking up at her. “Hello Steven.” Garnet said, smiling at him. “How’d your mission go?” He asked excited to hear some sort of fantasy tale. “It went fine. Bubbled the corrupted gem and it’s somewhere in our room until we can figure out what to do with them.” Garnet said, remembering how the ‘monsters’ were really just gems. She took a look at Pearl and frowned in a sort of angry way. _‘Guess she’s still mad at me…Am I going to be a bother forever, now?’_ Pearl thought, uneasily staring at Garnet. They both looked away in silence, and Pearl questioned how well she could perform on the team if this would continue. She finished the lunch, and silently put it in the bag and went to her room.

. . .

Another week or so passed, and Pearl was being bothersome on the team. She’d wanted to resolve their problems, hoping that maybe if she did something very well Garnet would feel better around her. She knew it wouldn’t help, but what else could she do? And with all that, Pearl had started to screw things up because of it. Garnet would get really mad at what Pearl was doing, and then Amethyst and Steven would stand around awkwardly in the uncomfortable silence. _‘This is going to be my new life. Messing up the team, nobody likes me but Steven and he’s slowly growing to stop trusting me as well…I wish I could fix this.’_ Pearl thought as there was another silence. And then an idea came into her head. _‘What if I just leave the team? That way everyone would be happier…and the team would start to work more efficiently…Steven and Garnet always loved Amethyst’s jokes anyways, what would they really miss from the Pearl screwing everything up?’_ Pearl considered it, and then decided she’d do it. That night-after another awkward silence-she headed to her room and painted a clear bag. She filled it with necessities, such as food and weapons that’d be strange to see in her gem. She waited until it was dark and everyone was asleep and placed the ‘bread’ in the cabinet. She went back to her room and waited until morning.


	2. The Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl manages to sneak away from the team, but what is she going to do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! Yeah I have it all right now, so I'm probably putting out most of it tonight :3

Pearl went outside of her room around dawn and waited until Steven woke up. When he finally did, she glanced over at his room. Amethyst was laying on Steven’s bed with him, both of them playing some sort of video game. She sighed, making the lunch for Steven when they go on the next mission. ‘ _Now I just have to pretend I’m missing something for the lunch,’_  she thought, opening the fridge. “Yo P make me somethin’ too!” Amethyst shouts, looking over. She wanted food for something to do while Steven was eating on their mission, obviously. _‘I guess I’m really doing this…’_

“Why can’t you just grow up and do it yourself?” Pearl asks, clearly annoyed. She still makes Amethyst something anyways, though. She takes out some bread, and quickly puts it back in the cabinet; she had forgotten about the bread that’d already be there. She took a different bag of bread-the one she painted-and held it. ‘ _If I put it in my gem, they’ll know something is up,’_ she thinks, holding it in a weak grip. ‘ _Guess I could pretend it’s stale,’_  she thinks, and looks at the bread. “Since when did this bread go stale?” she says, acting annoyed.

“Dunno P, you’re the only one who touches the stuff.” Amethyst says lazily, clearly more focused on the game then her shitty lies. Pearl glances over at Steven, who is so focused on it as well he doesn’t say anything-besides things like, “We need to win this level to unlock the secret one!” or “Dodge it!” or something along those lines. They both seem determined to win the game, and she feels confident this is going to work.

“Alright, then, guess I have to buy more bread at the store,” she says, taking the bag of bread. Or, it looks like it would be a loaf of bread. It’s actually a bag which **seems** like it has a loaf in it, however it contains necessities she couldn’t put in her Gem without people getting suspicious. Things like Rose’s tears were put in her Gem, as they understood she was still grieving a little and also wanted to keep them in case someone got hurt, but things like weapons and food were put in here-she didn’t usually need food and her weapon was good enough in their eyes.

“Maybe they’ll give me a refund,” she mumbles as an excuse to take it with her. _‘Okay, now I just put it in my Gem now,’_  she thought, lifting the bread and carefully putting it inside. They didn’t seem to mind. Inside her gem, she was sorting the stuff into a new organization she built on the other side. She put the food and water in one page, rose’s tears and medical equipment in another page, the weapons with dangerous items-like bombs or something easily able to harm someone else-and lastly put the rest in a miscellaneous page, which included things to cover her tracks and a photo of the Crystal Gems. This whole process was done without her even needing to help, and she just simply said she’d be back in an hour tops.

“Okay P see ya later,” Amethyst said while not really focusing on her word choice. She was too into these games sometimes. Pearl looked at her for a second, then looked at Steven. ‘ _for the last time…I’m seeing them for the last time,’_  she thought, trying not to get upset.

“Bye Pearl! See you later!” Steven said, shooting a smiling glance at Pearl before he looked back at the game. Pearl smiled. “Be back soon!” she says in the most cheerful voice she could muster. She walked out, appearing calm, and went over to the grocery store. After the whole fusion mistrust with Sardonyx. Yep, don’t need to say goodbye to someone who hates you. ‘ _I could lead them somewhere else, or not go at all…’_ she thought, taking her time walking over. _‘Well, if I do go and leave a false trail that damned future vision will make it pointless….and that stupid lion will lead them to me!’_ she thought, bitter. She decides on leaving without a false trail, heading over to the roads and leaving town.


	3. They Start To Worry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl leaves, and the Crystal Gems come home from the long mission to find she's not there. They start worrying about where she may be, but assume it's all okay

“Have you seen Pearl today? She was supposed to come with us on the mission,” Garnet asks, not wanting to confront her.

“Ohh, P? Yea I saw her this mornin’, no clue where she is. Probably in her room sulking or something.” Amethyst said to Garnet, looking away from the game.

“Aww no!” Steven said afterwards, as Amethyst had just died in game and they had to re-find the level again. Garnet looked relieved to have not had to see Pearl on the mission, as she would’ve screwed everything up.

“Come on then, let’s go.” Garnet mumbled in response, going over to the warp pad. She stood there, waiting for the two of them to follow. Amethyst grumbled, getting up and taking her place on the pad, but not before grabbing her lunch. Steven hopped up excitedly, racing over to grab his lunch and jumped onto the warp pad as well. Both of them had no clue it might’ve been the last lunches packed by Pearl.

“Can I lead us this time?” Steven asked, stars in his eyes. He looks over to Amethyst, who looks at Garnet. “Sure,” Garnet says, shrugging. “Awww yes!” Steven says in response, and with that they went to find more corrupted gems.

…

_‘Am I really leaving?’_ Pearl thought, unsure of her plan. _‘It’s…for the better of the team..’_ She thought, and ran as soon as she was out of the town and people couldn’t see her, as she didn’t need more attention at this point. She went to the closest warp and looked around. She carefully planned it out: Pearl would break the warp pad mid-trip, and then she would glitch and end up where she needed to be. She was going to a place which didn’t even have a warp pad: the desert. It may’ve sounded real stupid, but it was actually very far away. She carefully uses her gem to light the warp and uses it to go anywhere, and then smashes it with her spear. It glitches, and allows her to go anywhere possible. Pearl heads to the desert, and the warp destroys itself afterwards. She looks around, and recalls it from a previous mission. _‘Now, I just need to run until I find a place to hide far away, so I can figure out what to do next,’_  she thought, running through the barren landscape to hopefully find the nearby forest. She continued to run, searching. When she finally found the forest, it was getting dark.

_‘There was a cave in this specific forest, from what I remember when we were here before-and from the Earth maps I had in programming,’_  she thinks, trying to remember what direction it was in. _‘Wait, I still have that installed, don’t I?’_  Pearl thinks for a minute. She attempts to locate the cave, and grins into the darkness when the globe appears as a hologram. The one time being a manufactured, defected pearl came in handy. She spins it, and finds where she needs to go. _‘So it was West,’_  she thinks, running in that direction. The thorns and branches tear at her clothes while she runs, as she can’t carefully avoid them in the situation in fear of getting caught so soon. She doesn’t bleed-as gems don’t naturally bleed-and she continues to the cave.

…

It’s dark when Garnet, Amethyst, and Steven all come home. It had taken a little while longer, and they had camped out for a few days. The mission had been a success however, unlike the missions in the past few weeks. They even caught an extra corrupted gem out of the plan, which had taken them longer but it was all okay. “Yo P we’re back!” Amethyst yelled into the dark house. There wasn’t a response. “You mad to have us back so soon or somethin?” Amethyst shouts. Still no response. She shrugs it off, assuming she probably went into her room or something. Garnet refused to check if she was in there, as she was still furious at Pearl at the moment. Steven gave a concerned look, though, because Pearl always was home by now and making dinner for them-or at least made something earlier. But alas, there was an empty kitchen, devoid of all food.

“Where’s the foooood?” Amethyst whined, looking at the table as well. Garnet shrugged. “It doesn’t matter,” she stated, looking at the table as well. She went to her own room to think about Pearl’s mistake. Steven frowned, watching her go to her own room, and noticed there was bread.

“Well she did go and get the bread,” Steven said happily, planning to make them both a sandwich with the loaf. He paused, looking and noticing it was the same as this morning. _’Guess she got the same kind,’_  he thought, making the sandwiches without another thought about it.

“Thanks Steven,” Amethyst says respectfully, eating it. “No problem,” Steven says cheerfully, sitting down next to her and eating as well.

.   .   .

Steven wakes up the next day still at the kitchen stool, which was weird. Normally, he’d be taken and put into bed, and would wake up there. He shrugged it off, assuming because he was older he should take more care of himself. He glanced over to see Amethyst was sleeping next to him, her head on the counter. That was even weirder. Pearl always seemed to tidy up and put her-at the very least-on the couch, and it was a mess. He looked to see Pearl wasn’t up yet, or wasn’t out of her room anyways. Steven carefully moved around Amethyst, and he went to his own room. “Take me to Pearl’s **real** room,” he says, not wanting to have the whole incident occur once more. A door appeared, and he went over to it. “Thanks, room!” he says, as he left to see Pearl. “Pearl?” he called out, looking at the waterfalls. He wasn’t really in here often, but he went to the top with ease nonetheless. Steven looked around, and started getting concerned-she wasn’t there. He leaves, and goes over to Amethyst-who woke up during the few minutes he was gone.

“Yo stevaaan what up?” She asks, slouching on her stool. Her expression changes from a lazy one to a concerned one as she notices he’s almost in tears.

“I don’t know where Pearl is…she’s not in the house, and I don’t think she was yesterday, either…..” Steven admits, looking worriedly at Amethyst.

“Hey hey it’s okay, she’s fine,” Amethyst responds, clearly unsure. She gets up, and goes over to the door. “I’m gonna tell Garnet, she’d know what’s up.” Amethyst said, going into her own room and climbing around to Garnet’s room. Steven nods, and looks down at the counter, which still has their plates on it. He waits for them to come back, still looking at the empty and dirty plate.


	4. They Suddenly Realize

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Gems finally realize the hard truth: she ran away! But what can they do to find her?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is haaaard! oh well enjoy also thoughts are in italics if you didn't know by now

…

Pearl had no idea what to do next when morning came by. She had found the cave sometime during one of the darkest hours, and lit a small fire. It had no smoke coming out of the mouth of the cave because of how deep she was in. She started thinking of where to go next. She didn’t want to be a bother and go back, so she decided she never will. _‘I could either stay here and scrounge supplies, which isn’t necessary yet, or I could leave a false trail and continue moving,’_  she thought as she stared into the core of the fire, deciding on the latter. Pearl got up slowly, sore from the all the running, and contemplated what to leave. _‘If I place something in the desert, they’ll think I ran out of water and headed to the ocean over there,’_  she thought, glancing at the water so far away. _‘But if I do that, I lose all my progress as of now,’_  she thought again, glancing at how far away it was. Pearl looked through her items, and found a picture of all of them together. She knew it was the least valuable in the long run, and she burnt off herself in the picture-where she was conveniently on the very edge of it-and formed a hologram of herself. “Take this picture-leave no tracks coming from here-and place it in the desert. Then I want you to walk to the ocean, and leave footprints as a false trail.” The hologram nodded, and headed off to the ocean. Pearl waited to hear that the task was complete before deleting the hologram and heading back into the cave.

…

“Yo, uhm, Garnet?” Amethyst started, walking towards her. “What is it?” Garnet said, trying to tell before she asked. She could see Amethyst was panicking slightly, and she got worried.

“Did, uhh, do you know where Pearl may be? We uhhh, uhh, we dunno where she is. Steven checked her room and found nobody, and we wanted to be sure…” Amethyst said, trailing off. Garnet heard Pearl’s name and groaned. Of course the not trustworthy one ends up gone.

“Hmm….I didn’t see her,” Garnet said, frowning in confusion. Garnet used her future vision, ignoring whatever Amethyst had just asked, and saw many possibilities. Some said she was dead, and most said she ran away and wouldn’t come back. “That little shit,” she says, getting angry.

“What? Did something happen?” Amethyst asked, quickly getting even more panicked.

“She ran away! Not only that but she stole some of our food, supplies, and even some of the weapons in our room!” Garnet shouted, very upset. “We’re gonna get her,” Garnet mumbled darkly, heading over to Lion. Amethyst was speechless, and followed.

“Uhh, Steven? Pearl ran away, and we’re going to go find her,” Amethyst said, still following Garnet.

“What?!” Steven sounded visibly shocked, and he looked very worried as they went over to Lion. Garnet seemed to realize they could use the main warp, and walked into the room to see Pearl there for a second, glitching it. She managed to get away before Garnet got over, and the warp was completely destroyed.

“ARRGH!” Garnet shouted in annoyance. She went over to Lion. “Lion, take us to the closest you can get to Pearl.” she said. Lion got up, and the three of them hopped on as he created a wormhole and went to the desert.


	5. Starting The Search

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team start the hunt to find her, and get pretty close to getting her, but they have to rest-for Steven of course-and gives her the opportunity to run. How far will she get?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some weeird stuff here. Yeah I know that it'd most likely just stop the warping but I had to come up with something okay? Hope you like it i guess

…

It had already been complicated enough with running away, when she suddenly realized the main warp in the house was still active. She groaned in annoyance, taking out an undamaged one. She warped to the house, hoping nobody was there in sight, and did the same thing again: smash the warp mid-travel. It could make her end up glitching into the warp stream, but she was willing to try. Success! She was able to do it with no problems, **and** the gems were all outside! She managed to go back to the other one, and put it back into her gem. “Now, I just need to stay here for another minute before I can-” she stopped mid-sentence to see Lion, Steven, Garnet, and Amethyst all at the desert staring at the picture she set up-and the footprints. She grinned as they started heading towards the ocean, but just as she thought she was getting away with it she noticed they split apart. Garnet and Steven headed towards the forest, and Amethyst went towards the ocean. _‘shit!’_  she thought, watching them ride lion across the forest. She had only two options she would take: bolt across the desert, or hide. She decided to run.

…

Garnet and Steven both headed over to the forest, looking for Pearl. “We know you’re here!” Garnet shouted as loud as she could into the forest. It was around noon at this point.

“Yo what do I do if she’s not there? Where do we meet?” Amethyst asked, turning to realize they were already gone. ‘ _Ugh, great. Already gone,’_ she thought, pissed. She caught movement on the other side of the desert before she turned around, and looked to see Pearl bolting out of the forest frantically. _‘Got you now, Pearl,’_  she thought, spinning into a ball of sorts and racing across the dunes.

…

Pearl heard Amethyst racing towards her, and panicked. Pearl ran in a straight line, going straight to the edge into a cliff. She leapt off of the cliff with grace, and landed on her feet on one of the smaller holds of it. She smiled at the fact she didn’t break anything, and looked down. Pearl had a long way to go. She sighed, carefully climbing down and almost falling once. Only one of her hands was on the hold, and she scraped her knee in attempting to stand on another one. She kept going down, and jumped off of it-landing on her feet-and then continued running until she found another cave, hiding in it. Pearl looked at her knee, as it had stung, and noticed some blood. _‘That’s strange, sense when do gems bleed?’_  Pearl thought as she examined it. And then it hit her: Pearls were supposed to be graceful, meaning that they’re supposed to bleed. Or, at least, she had to when White owned her all those years ago. It was programming she took out a long time ago, but some things don’t ever truly leave forever. Some things like to show up sometimes no matter how hard you try to erase it. She heard Amethyst leave, probably to find Garnet and Steven and discuss things, before peeking over there. Pearl noticed that they all went to settle in the cave she was in the other night. She frowned, wondering why they were stopping, and then it hit her-it was the middle of the night by now! She couldn’t feel a thing, exhausted, and she left the cave and continued running. ‘ _I’m finally going to make it! They won’t catch me!’_  she thought determinedly, continuing for the remainder of the night.

 


	6. The Search Continues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team wakes up feeling dreadful, knowing that every second they rested meant another second Pearl could either A. Continue running or B. End up getting hurt. They continue the hunt, but how much longer until they find her?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Garnet has a weird mind where both people think and can argue in her head! Yaaay. More for the drama and to add some stuff and move the story forward then a fun idea. yeaaa. enjoy!

…

Garnet woke up with the feeling Pearl could be running even farther away, and went deep into the cave for evidence she might’ve been here. As luck would have it, there was a very dim fire with logs burning in their last moments. ‘ _so she was here before, and not too long ago,’_ she thought, extinguishing the small flame. She went back, and it was already dawn. “Alright team. Obviously she was here, but she most likely already ran off.” Everyone nodded in agreement, waiting for Garnet to continue. “Lion,” she started, glancing at him. He looked up at the sound of his name. “We need you to take us closer to Pearl.” Lion sighed and got up, creating another wormhole. The three gems went through, and looked around. It was a cliff, with jagged edges.

“Did she jump?” Amethyst asked, concerned, as she stared down the almost impossibly large cliff.

“Doubt it, if she did she probably wouldn’t survive.” Garnet said casually, staring at the edges jutting out in different directions. She continued looking along the edge until she came across….something. It was a lighter blue, and it was clearly dried on the one of the jutting rocks. _‘Pearl told me about this earlier…she said something about being able to bleed before? But I thought she couldn’t any longer…that’s clearly her blood….’_ Garnet was lost in thought for a few minutes, staring at it. “Look,” she says, pointing to the blood.

“What is **that**?” Amethyst asks, confused at the random blue blood on the cliff. Steven seemed just as confused, staring at it. Garnet sighs, realizing they don’t have time for it.

“It means Pearl went down there, climbing.” Garnet said, deciding to tell the rest later once she was back home.

“But I thought she could just shape-shift?” Steven asked after that response, even more confused than before.

“Pearl couldn’t shape-shift well, she said it was complicated and was just hard to do in general…” Amethyst said, thinking back on it. She had no idea that she was wrong.

_…_

Pearl felt her gem, which clearly couldn’t support all the running. A hideous crack had formed from overexertion, and she knew she had to take a break. _‘I guess I’ll just go into the old structure over there,’_ Pearl thought, looking at it. Judging by how bad it looked, it was abandoned eons ago-the entire thing was rusty, and it looked as though it would fall apart any second. _‘It’s not that far away from the cliff,’_ she thought, looking at it for a moment, _‘but I can’t run any longer, so I have no choice..’_ Pearl thought as she ran into it, not leaving a trail, and sat down at the entrance. _‘If I sit here, I’ll either fall asleep or rest enough and my gem’ll look better… of course I still have to run afterwards, but perhaps a little could do no harm?’_  she thinks, staring at the dusty grey ceiling. _’Where am I even trying to go, now? It was to that old cave..but they’d find me there…I guess I keep running until I die?’_ Pearl thought, looking around the filthy building. She continued thinking until she fell asleep.

.  .  .

Pearl woke up later, and crawled outside to check the time. It was clearly sometime later in the day, as the sun had risen and it was high in the sky, and she couldn’t help but feel slightly panicked. She wasn’t **that** far away from them, and if she ran now hell knows what’d happen. Pearl was about to start running, when she caught sight of the cliff. To her own horror, they were getting down with ease and searching the land nearby. _‘Shit! If I run, they’ll see me like last time, and if I stay here they’ll find me too!’_ Pearl thought as she bolted back into the old structure, watching them call out her name and search the area. She decided just to go deeper into the structure and hope for the best.

…

“PEARL?” Amethyst shouted, examining the trees. Yeah, so Pearl wasn’t a good climber, but she could still be hiding there because of that. Sure she was annoying as hell but Amethyst still loved her (family-wise) and she couldn’t shake the feeling that life wouldn’t be the same without her. _‘It’s not like when she was poofed, because we knew she’d come back…now, though, we have no idea if she’s even…’_ Amethyst couldn’t finish that thought, hoping that maybe she’d just be hiding somewhere. “Anything, Garnet?” Amethyst asked hopefully.

“No, still no sign.” Garnet called back, trying to mask her feelings. She had to be the one everyone looked up to, she needed to be strong. But that didn’t help both Ruby and Sapphire from arguing on what to do in her head. _‘Obviously she needs to come back home, but where could she be?’_ Sapphire thought, asking Ruby. _‘Who cares?! She stole our stuff!’_ Ruby thought, telling her through their head. ‘ _Stop it! Both of you! We need to focus. Obviously she’s either hiding nearby or running, and I highly doubt she’d be physically capable of running after doing it for weeks straight.’_ Garnet thought, looking around for any more signs she might be nearby.


	7. They Find; Can They Catch?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven decides to look through an old gem structure with traps so old they don't even activate. Or do they...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what do I say here hmm...hello. Are you tired of me yet?

“Where could she be?” Steven asked, frowning. It’d been almost a week before they seemed to notice she was seriously gone, and now they had no clue where she was, or why she left. “I have an idea! Amethyst, check the forest. (The forest had gone past the cliff at some point, which means it went downhill.) Garnet, check the area surrounding the cliff. And I’ll check that old structure over there!” Steven exclaimed, pointing where everyone was to look as he said it. Both Garnet and Amethyst nodded, continuing their search. Steven ran over to an old structure. Pearl would’ve hated how worn down it looked, you couldn’t even tell what color it was. He looked around the outside, calling Pearl’s name out like the rest of the group, before going over to the only entrance. “Pearl?” Steven called out, hopeful. Still nothing. He sighed, looking in. _‘Maybe she’s in there, hiding?’_ Steven thought as he entered the building.

…

Pearl gasped as she heard Steven call out her name, right outside of the structure. _‘Well shit, I guess maybe he won’t see me if I hide in the dark corner? Yeah, he’ll probably see me…but where else am I supposed to go?’_  Pearl thought as she hid in the dark, dusty corner. She grimaced at the filth, but decided it was worth it if she would no longer be a bother. _‘But aren’t I being a bother by making them find me? Ugh, why can’t they just leave me alone? Clearly nobody wanted me there, and now everyone hates me for leaving? Why can’t I just make one single thing right?’_ Pearl started thinking, mad that she couldn’t just leave them and make everyone happy. _‘Maybe I could just…no.’_ She couldn’t bear to finish that sentence. _‘No matter what, I won’t attack Steven.’_ Pearl thought firmly. She hid in the corner, shaking, and waiting for something to happen. “Pearl..?” Steven asked, illuminating the dark structure with his gem. He couldn’t see her yet, because she was so far in, but he’d get there eventually… _‘I could either pretend to fight, and bolt out…or I could sit and wait for him to find me…’_ Pearl thought, heart racing in her chest. She decided to wait until he was close, and pretend to attack. Then, she’d easily be able to run.

…

Steven kept walking deeper and deeper into the structure, not really caring that it could’ve been a trap at this point. “Pearl?” He called again, going even further. Eventually, he was so far in he couldn’t see the entrance. _‘Good thing that all the traps are deactivated from this place being abandoned,’_ Steven thought, looking around. It was easy enough to go walk around a sword sticking out of one of the sides, or duck below an axe. However, it would’ve been much harder with it all set up and functioning. Steven easily managed to get past, and he felt a wall at some point during the walk. _‘Must be the end,’_ Steven thought, examining it. He knew that the only place she would’ve been would be either corner, and as he got closer he saw a blue spear illuminate the darkness as well, the blue and pink lights glowing to show that she was putting up a fight. “Pearl!” Steven cried, overjoyed that they finally found her. He took out his shield, staring at her determinedly.

“I don’t want to fight you, Pearl.” Steven stated, staring at her in the corner. She looked awful: her gem was cracked, she somehow was managing to bleed, bruises littered her body… He held out a hand, smiling. “Just come home with us,” Steven said, looking at her with tears in his eyes. Pearl ran over to him, spear in hand, and he quickly used his magical bubble to avoid damage. However the second he put it up he realized his mistake. Pearl smiled, running directly past him.

“I’m not coming home with you,” she said, running out of the filthy structure with ease and grace. She seemed to be good at dodging all of the weapons scattered about the place. Or, at least, that’s what Steven thought until she ended up stabbing one of her legs with a sword that’d just popped out of nowhere. _‘Looks like the traps started working again,’_ Steven thought, looking at Pearl’s leg as she struggled to get away.


	8. They Finally Get Her

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team struggles with finding her, and when they do....can they bring her back unharmed?

. . .

Pearl was hiding, and she’d known to pretend to fight so she could run. Simple. However in her plan there was no room for the traps to start setting off again, and she ended up landing straight in one; her leg was impaled, bleeding because of the stupid programming which never seemed to fade. She restrained from crying out in pain, and simply took the sword out and limp-ran out of the old building. Pearl smiled, seeing the next escape and limping down the hill. (The building was near the old cliff, which right below had a grassy hill and a forest to the left.) _‘I’m almost there! I can…make it’_  Pearl thought, going down the hill. The other gems seemed to have seen her come out the building, and were starting to run towards her. Just as Pearl assumed she’d make it out, Amethyst tied her up easily with her whip-holding her still with her hands free-and they both came over, furious. “Just WHAT did you think you’d accomplish running away?” Amethyst asked, annoyed, angry, and relieved at the same time.

“I-” Pearl started, cut off by Garnet. “No, I don’t even want to know at this point. Yet.” Garnet said, fuming but partly relieved at the same time. She turned to Amethyst, who looked at her back. “I guess we bring her home now?” Amethyst asks Garnet, not really knowing exactly what should happen next.

“I suppose.” Garnet says, not noticing Pearl take out a spear. Amethyst didn’t notice either as she went to Steven, telling him that they’d found Pearl. Garnet paused for a moment-using future vision-and realized what Pearl was about to do. She turned around and bent Pearl’s spear down, so she wouldn’t shatter herself. Both Steven and Amethyst turned to see her gem on the grass, the whips now loose and on the ground as well. Steven came over, sighing as he picked her gem up from the cold ground. He went over to Lion-who was surprisingly calm until the poofing-and put her in his mane-in the pocket-dimension-on the little island, resting it beside junk. Steven went out, and they all hopped onto Lion, looking around one last time, before warping through the wormhole back to the house. They’d have some serious talking to do when Pearl came back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did it at the end so no spoilers! Yaaay. Wow. How was the chapter haha. Yeah it's very short, and we're moving towards the end :o


	9. Finding, And Taking A Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She regenerates after a week or so, as that's how Pearls are I guess, and she's left alone in the house for a while.

…

Pearl woke up with the heavy realization she was caught and brought back home. _‘Why couldn’t I have just done something good for them? But no, they took me and wasted their time.’_ Pearl thought as she adjusted to the lighting. She noticed that as she tugged, there was a rope around her waist tying her to the couch. _‘At least I’m sitting up,’_ she thought as she sat, also noting her arms were free. _‘And so are my arms..? They must’ve put something over my gem so I can’t summon my weapon, or taken it?’_ Pearl thought as she attempted-and failed-at summoning her own weapon. She tried again with success, and then noticed Garnet was standing, arms crossed, glaring at her. Pearl stared for a second, scared of what would happen, and she made her spear dissipate.

“Why, may I ask, did you just run away?” Garnet asked, staring at her hard. Pearl looked down-too scared to look at Garnet at all-and she mumbled so quietly Garnet couldn’t catch a word, with the exception of “bothersome”. “Can you repeat that, louder?”

“I…I was…After the…incident.. y-you weren’t t-talking to me.. I ended up…d-disrupting t-t-the team…W-we couldn’t g-get a-any work done, so I figured I s-should leave…f-for the b-better of the t-team…” Pearl said almost inaudible, however Garnet somehow managed to hear it this time. Garnet sighed, annoyed that this whole incident was the reason. _‘What are they going to do to me now…’_ Pearl thought, scared.

“How long were you out there?” Garnet asked, remembering that she’d left Pearl alone in the house for around 4-5 days.

“I was out there…f-for a few weeks…” Pearl managed, taking a glance at Garnet. Amethyst showed up out of nowhere-with Steven-and stood next to Garnet. _‘Were they here the whole time?!’_ Pearl thought, panicking. She put her head back down, scared of what they could do to her.

…

Garnet was really pissed at Pearl, but something seemed…off. Pearl was always confident, and if not she was always happy, or mad or occasionally sad. Sure sometimes she was scared, who wasn’t, but not like **this**. Pearl was trembling, and refusing to even look at any of them, not even Steven. _‘Is she okay? This…this isn’t what I expected from her,’_ Garnet thought, glancing over to Amethyst. Amethyst was frowning, looking at Garnet worriedly. Steven was just looking at Pearl, very confused as well.

“Steven, why don’t you go say hi to Connie?” Amethyst asked, attempting to give him the opportunity to leave, looking at him. Steven nodded, taking the chance to leave, and he ran out of the door. Now both Amethyst and Garnet were looking at Pearl, who was still absolutely terrified. “What’re we going to do to her now?” Amethyst asked, looking over to Garnet.

“Let’s leave her alone while we think of a reasonable punishment.” Garnet spat out, her gauntlets fading. “Although keep the whip around her, later we’ll let her walk around the house…” Garnet said afterwards, seeing Amethyst almost take them off. She nodded and headed over to her room, and Garnet did as well. Pearl was sitting on the couch and watched them leave, sighing.


	10. Attempting To Regain Trusts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl manages to start gaining slight trust, but how much can she really earn after running away?

…

Pearl attempted to stand for the twentieth time after they left, and still failed. She looked around at the mess. It was starting to bother her, and she knew that her spear would do nothing to help it. The kitchen had messes from easy to make meals, and Steven’s clothes were coating the floor. And not only that, but dishes were also on the floor and on the kitchen island. Some were even broken at this point. She frowned, still unable to get up and clean it, and an idea came into her head. _‘Maybe I could just cut the rope off? Or is this some sort of punishment, to see the mess…?’_ Pearl got so confused that it could be a trick or punishment and was afraid to get into even deeper trouble, so she closed her eyes. But she knew it was still there, and it was driving her insane. She just stared at it, resisting for a few hours while she started to get both annoyed and upset. _‘I can’t just watch this…’_ Pearl thought as she summoned her spear. Just as she was about to cut the whip, Amethyst was there and watching her with a frown.

“And I was just told I could let you go…can we really trust you if you just attempted to break free yourself?” Amethyst said, looking down with an angry frown. She stormed off, marching away. _‘So much for that..she’s probably telling Garnet.. Screw it, if I’m in more trouble I might as well just do it…’_ Pearl thought this, but she was still afraid. She struggled to cut through the whip, and finally managed after a few minutes. Pearl got up and realized how much all the running and the crack in her gem had taken a toll on her. _‘Wait, I healed the crack,’_ she thought as she placed a hand on her head, feeling it. _‘What happened…? Was it just from the exhaustion afterwards?’_ Pearl thought as she took her hand away, frowning slightly. She shook it off, not wanting to really know what happened as she started tidying up the house. Pearl started humming a little, and didn’t notice when Garnet came back out of her room.

“I see you got out. I thought we could trust you,” Garnet said behind Pearl, scaring her. “I…w-well..” Garnet shrugged, looking at the gem. Garnet looked around the house, noting how clean it was.

“I suppose you can stay off the whip, considering you’re making the house cleaner than it has been in a month,” Garnet said, looking directly at Pearl. She seemed overjoyed that she could finally walk freely, and continued cleaning as Garnet went over to the kitchen to cook something easy. “I-I can cook…i-if you w-want me t-too…” Pearl said, looking over at Garnet. She knew that Garnet must’ve been sick of mac n’cheese…chicken nuggets…and the like.

“I wouldn’t mind,” Garnet said, retreating over to a stool. She wanted to make sure that Pearl wouldn’t fall over and get hurt, but also didn’t want to be in the way. Garnet watched Pearl stumble, but still manage to cook fairly well. She finished, and put the food in the exact same portion on each plate, making sure it all looked identical as well before putting it on the counter. She was always like this. Garnet watched her place them all next to each other, calculating just how far away each one should be from each other. Garnet stood, and went to fetch Steven and Amethyst. _‘It almost feels…normal again…’_ Garnet thought as she found Steven skipping back home with a smile on his face.

“It’s time for dinner,” Garnet shouted from the porch. “Got it!” Steven yelled back, racing up faster. “It’s not another microwavable dinner, is it?” He asked, groaning.

“Not this time, no. We’re having pasta. And I don’t mean what we’ve _been_ having.” Garnet responded, walking inside to see Amethyst sitting on a stool waiting for Steven and Garnet. Pearl was back on the couch, tied up again with an annoyed look on her face. “Yo this lil rascal got through my whips! So I tied her up again, this time it won’t be coming off any time soon.” Amethyst said, not realizing she wasn’t supposed to. She started eating, and Steven went over and started eating as well. Garnet was still deciding whether or not to tell them.

“We let her off-whip a while ago, after I saw she got out and made dinner.” Garnet said, making Amethyst almost choke. “That’s not coming off,” she said, shaking her head and looking at it. “I made sure of that,” she said, eating more of the spaghetti. Garnet shrugged, sure she told her but there was no way Pearl could be able to escape the whip now. Garnet came over and ate as well. After eating and talking pleasantly, Amethyst and Garnet left, forgetting the mess, and walked over to say good night to Steven.

“G’night Steven.” Amethyst said, going over to her own room. Garnet said good night as well, to which Steven complained he should be able to stay up longer. Garnet said no and looked over to Pearl, who had some sort of blood trickling down her arms and blood staining her shirt as she clearly attempted to get herself free, assuming that if she got her arms free she could cut the whip again. She quietly whined, tears starting to form as she continued to try to get free. “Something bugging you?” Garnet asked, walking over to Pearl, who instantly jumped and attempted to back into the couch.

“I-it’s nothing..” Pearl responded, looking over at the mess. Garnet caught this and cleaned it up, looking back at her. “I still don’t trust you,” she said as she walked into her own room for the night.


	11. Taking A Moment To Think

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl finds out how to escape, and then starts thinking: how bad are the Crystal Gems? What're they going to do to her?

Pearl glanced around the room, sitting on the couch. She knew if she moved even a little, she’d start bleeding again.

 _‘Stupid programming…at least they didn’t ask…’_ Pearl thought, remembering that none of the crystal gems knew she was defective or that she was scripted. _‘If they found out that I was manufactured specifically for White…and had very advanced programming making me bleed, they’d kill me..’_ she thought as she looked at the dried blood on her arm. No other gem was scripted but Pearls, and they weren’t treated poorly enough to have the blood in the first place. Pearls were meant to clean and be a friend to the lonely who had enough money, not some sort of object to let off steam… she shook her head to rid of her thoughts, which made her arms move and more blood to appear. She got up without her arms, and fell back down. Pearl then had an idea, looking through her programming.

 _‘Now I just need to find the movement script, or the Apps…’_ Pearl thought, scanning her own code. She found the ‘Apps’ folder quite quickly, and saw her other programs that White made, or that were made from some Scripter Gems who had made it already.

 _‘_ _Maps, blood…Guess I should add it,’_ she thought as she scripted up a hologram-transfer. Once finished, she glanced to check that nobody saw, and then formed a hologram. It resembled her very well, and she would’ve been called Pearl if not for the blue tint and the transparency. And those eyes, those hollow, empty eyes…She quickly used the new program, allowing herself to turn into the hologram and her own body to go limp. Pearl smiled, easily destroying the ropes with a blast from her spear. She switched back into her own body, and destroyed the hologram. Pearl then got up and went to her room, placing her weapons back in the organization before deciding she may have to keep just one in case they’re all stolen. She went back to the couch and sat down, thinking about the possible punishments all night.


	12. Is It Normal Again?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nobody realizes about the programming, but they notice she's magically escaped. Not only this but she decides to do some cleaning, acting like it's all normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longer this time! Wow already 5 hits!!! I'm not supposed to be excited over 5.... oh well.

…

Garnet finally managed to take a night to sleep, as the work had slowed slightly and given her more time. She didn’t wake up during the night, which was good. Garnet opened the door to the house to find Pearl, somehow out of the whips, making some pancakes and facing the stove. “Morning, Pearl.” Garnet stated, not asking about how she escaped. It could wait.

“T-the anticipation is killing me,” she mumbled, clearly in her own thoughts. Garnet decided to wait and listen to what she had to say. “T-they c-can’t do something t-that bad, right?”

“Pearl?” Garnet asked, moving over and sitting on one of the stools. She sighed, and watched Amethyst walk through the door, who was visibly shocked. “ **WHAT?!** ” Amethyst screeched, looking at Pearl out of her whips. “HOW DID YOU DO THAT????” Amethyst yelled louder than she ever did before. Pearl jumped and turned around, cursing herself for jumping again. “W-well..” Pearl started, not wanting to tell about the…programming.

“Don’t mind her, Pearl,” Steven said as he sat down next to Garnet on a different stool, waiting for food. Amethyst just grumbled and sat down on the stool closest to the doors, sitting next to Steven. Pearl seemed relieved that she didn’t have to answer, and she sat down on the couch, expecting to be tied up again. _‘Too bad I put away Rose’s tears, or I could’ve healed all of the wounds that are now visible,’_ Pearl thought, watching everyone eat. She got up, and headed to the door so she could go out to town and buy groceries. Pearl felt something on her waist, and looked down to see Amethyst was holding her by the whip, not letting her outside.

“We need to do something about that, what if she just walks outside?” Amethyst asked, yanking Pearl and making her fall onto the floor. Pearl yelped as she felt herself fall, attempting to catch herself without her arms and ending up smacking on the floor, laying on her stomach. Pearl felt the whip vanish, and shakily got to her knees. “I won’t go out if you don’t want me to,” she said, recalling her life on Homeworld. She knew it could be much worse and sucked it up, sitting back down on the couch.

“Sorry…I didn’t mean to make you fall…” Amethyst mumbled, blushing a little while she stared at her empty plate. “It’s okay, but someone else has to get the groceries…” Pearl said, holding out a list. Garnet walked over and took it, saying, “I won’t miss a thing,” while moving her shades to make them shine, smiling. She read the list and nodded, and headed towards the store with some cash. Amethyst watched her go out the door, and hopped off of the stool.

“Wanna go out to the game store Steven?” Amethyst asked, turning towards him. He nodded, and replied, “That’d be fun! I’ve ran out of games.” Pearl watched them leave, before she saw Amethyst coming back with some sort of gloves. She put them on Pearl, locked them on, and then pressed some sort of button. “Now you can’t leave the house, don’t even bother trying,” Amethyst said, sure this would work. After that, Amethyst and Steven left in a car to the nearby towns, because they always had better games. 

_‘Least that stupid lion is here,’_ she mumbled, glancing at the lion staring at her in the corner of the room. He was sorta like her, both of them knew things nobody else did and went through a lot. Not to mention they both really liked and looked up to Rose, and were both upset when she left. Lion seemed to respond to her looking at him, and hopped up onto the couch. She moved to the side, giving him more room, and pet his mane. The two of them never got along, but their relationship grew stronger over the years and now they could stand being in the same room.

She pet him for a while, until he fell asleep. Then she started cleaning up the breakfast, almost falling over from not having any sleep for around a month. Sure, gems don’t really need sleep, but when the gem cracks it needs to rest. And when gems overexert themselves, they need to sleep in order to heal properly. Pearl went over to the couch and cleaned it up, as well as Steven’s bed, as she hadn’t gotten time to do it the other day. She finished cleaning, and ended up falling down the stairs on the way back to the couch and passing out after tumbling to the floor.


	13. It Slowly Comes Back Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe now it's okay...maybe, just maybe, it's alright. Maybe everything will be okay.  
> maybe.

…

Garnet went to the store and collected all of the items needed, double checking with future vision that she hadn’t missed anything. She went up to the cashier and waited for them to scan the items. _‘Wish we had a closer grocery store,’_ Garnet thought as she put the grocery bags into the shopping cart. “That’ll be two-hundred and eighty-three dollars,” the worker said, holding out their hand for the money. Garnet pulled out the money and gave it to the worker. “Bye, have a nice day,” the worker said afterwards, visibly bored. Garnet replied with, “You too,” and walked out to the van Greg let her borrow. She put all the bags in it, put the cart back where it belonged, and drove back to Beach City.

…

“Pick out a game Steven! We gotta have one for tonight,” Amethyst said, clearly getting bored. It’d been two hours as of now, and Steven was choosing between something called _The Dawn_ or _Cookie Cat’s Adventures: Space._ He was closer to picking the first one, as it was multiplayer and focused more on battles then daily life like the other one.  It took Steven so long that Amethyst gave up and bought both of them so they could leave. “Thanks, Amethyst!”

“Yeah yeah just pick which one we’re gonna play first,” Amethyst said, looking away and blushing. She went up and purchased the games, and remembered they came without a car. Amethyst called a taxi while Steven sat on the curb with her. The taxi came, and they got in and went back to Beach City.

. . .

“That’ll be $25.85,” the taxi driver said, waiting for their payment. “Oh, we spent it all at the game store…” Amethyst said, shaking her head. “I have this weird card thing Pearl gave me though,” Amethyst said afterwards, examining it before handing it to the driver. She sighed, saying, “That’s a credit card,” and using it to get their money. She handed it back, saying, “Have a nice afternoon,” and letting them out. “You too!” Steven said, smiling as he left the car with Amethyst, who just grumbled and said the same thing. They went over to the house together and opened the door to find Garnet making dinner, and Pearl sitting on the couch with Lion.

“Heey we’re back!” Amethyst shouted, walking inside. “Good, dinner’s almost ready.” Garnet said firmly after, glancing at Amethyst and Steven. “What games did you buy?” She asked, looking back at the dinner.

“We got _The Dawn_ and _Cookie Cat Adventures,_ although we’re playing _The Dawn_ tonight,” Steven said, happy that he had gotten two games instead of one.

“Sounds nice,” Garnet said, noting that both Amethyst and Steven would be busy that night. _‘Now, I can easily have a chat with Pearl,’_ She thought, almost burning the food as she forgot about it. Garnet quickly put it on a plate, and placed it on the counter where Steven and Amethyst were both already waiting for it. Steven was smart enough to wait as to not burn his tongue, but Amethyst just went right in. “Amethyst, you’re supposed to wait until it’s cooled down!” Steven said, exasperated. “Ish okaay Shhteven, issh jussht food,” Amethyst said after hearing his shock. She swallowed, and said, “It’s okay Steven, and it’s not that hot anymore.” Steven nodded, and started eating. Garnet stood in the kitchen for a few minutes, then she left to her room to check up on something.

. . .

“Yo Steven, get your controller out!” Amethyst shouted from his room, holding her own controller in the air. The television was on, loading the game _The Dawn_ already. “Coming in just a sec!” Steven called back, holding a large bowl of popcorn in one hand and the controller in the other. He ran up the stairs-almost tripping on the cords-and sat on the bed next to Amethyst with a _poof._ Steven didn’t notice Pearl getting up and starting to clean the area, but turned and saw her just there cleaning. He shrugged and plugged in his controller, starting the 2P game.

…

Garnet walked out of her room, having finished checking up on the bubbles to ensure nothing escaped like some occasions-although she didn’t expect something escaping, it always was someone else’s fault-and went over to Pearl, who was cleaning the microwave. “Pearl?” Garnet started, getting her attention.

“What is it?” Pearl asked, turning her head to the left in order to face Garnet. “I need to talk to you.” Garnet said, thinking about the conversation already. Pearl swallowed and nodded, following Garnet back to her room.

“So…I know you **said** you left because of the fusion incident, but is there any other reason besides that?” Garnet started once they reached her room. The two of them were sitting down on the floor in the Bubble Room, both of them sitting in silence for a minute. “Well…I just thought if I was inconveniencing the team that there wasn’t a reason for me to..be on the team…” Pearl stated, looking at the floor. They sat in silence for another minute, and then Garnet spoke again.

“Why did you trick me into fusing with you…?” Garnet asked, trying to seem calm while she was still very mad.

“I guess I wanted to feel the joy, the happiness…I also wanted to feel…important? You’re always so strong, you know exactly what to do in every situation…I guess I just wanted to feel the same…” Pearl said, still looking down at the ground. Garnet looked at Pearl, who seemed very guilty for her actions at that point.

“I don’t always know what to do, Pearl. Sometimes nobody knows what to do, and we just _try_ something. It doesn’t have to be right to work. And I’m not always strong. Over this whole ordeal I came undone.” Garnet said, looking Pearl in the eyes when she looked up. Pearl smiled, and looked back down.

“It doesn’t matter though, you won’t forgive my actions over nothing.”

“You’re right, but you’ve already done so much to prove you’re trustworthy by now.” Garnet said, looking at her again. Pearl looked confused, asking, “Like what..?” To which Garnet responded, “You didn’t leave the house even when you could’ve, and you sure didn’t bother us. It may take a while for us to fuse again, but I trust you more now.” They went back out together, and went over to Steven’s bed. Garnet hopped in the middle of the two gamers, and Pearl sat neatly on the wooden floor. Everyone watched the video game-Garnet smiling, Steven and Amethyst both focused, and Pearl clearly thinking about every single thing wrong with the battle style while she just sat there. Garnet smiled again. Perhaps Pearl would really start to be better on the team and their relationship would grow back soon. Perhaps.


	14. It's OK Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bonds grow back, and hopefully turns out alright.

Slowly, the team began to reform, one by one. Amethyst and Pearl didn’t fight as much as they used to, Steven started to control his powers more, and Garnet and Pearl’s relationship grew back. It took almost a year, but now they were living normally again, with more understanding towards each other. They also got used to not knowing every little thing about each other, and realized that maybe almost losing Pearl was good. Not the fact they almost had the chance to never see her, but more to appreciate every member; because you never know when you’ll lose someone, and when you do you’ll realize how much they really mattered to you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading all of this!!! I didn't think someone would... Well anyways, I think it'd be cool if I did something else with the programming thing. I thought it was cool.


End file.
